Porch House Master Suite // Tiles, Tiles, and MORE Tiles (ORC Week 4)

This post is part of a 6-week series for the One Room Challenge, a blogger makeover challenge hosted by Calling it Home every Fall and Spring. We’re tackling the Porch House’s master bathroom and closet this go around. Thanks for following along! You can get caught up on previous posts here: part 1, part 2, and part 3

Well, we did it! We tiled the entire master shower and the bathroom floors. It was a whirlwind week of tiling, and now my fingers are so chapped that my iPhone can’t even recognize my fingerprint…ha! But I couldn’t be happier with the results.

*Ignore the tiny, unfinished spots at the bottom of the subway wall. We finished those up shortly after taking photos. And don’t worry, the white streaks on the slate tiles will come off with a good scrub when we’re done.

I opted for classic subway tiles on the shower walls, because they’re, well, classic. Andinexpensive. With 120sf of subway, the price point couldn’t be beat. However, selecting subway tile also meant that each of these 3″x6″ tiles had to be laid individually. I definitely cursed Daltile’s name a few times during this project for not offering these tiles on a mesh-mounted backing!

The subway tile alone took us three days to lay, though for the record one whole day was spent on the corners and borders, and another day could be chalked up to the fact we brought all 3 kiddos with us for the entire project and entertaining/feeding/caring for them took precedence. If you’re new to the Grit and Polish, I should probably mention that we don’t live in the Porch House. We’re renovating this 1900 house to re-sale (aka flip) later this fall. Keeping kids entertained and fed at a job site can be tricky, but thankfully the Porch House’s kitchen is functional, and we showed up with a teepee, novel toys, books, and a plethora of Land Before Time movies downloaded on Garrett’s phone. So far, it’s done the trick!

On the floors, we used a simple mosaic in the shower, which worked well with the pan slope. And on the bathroom floor, we laid 12″x24″ slate tiles. The natural slate is something we haven’t used before but I must say, it’s pretty phenomenal. I love the natural variation and finish of these tiles. We laid them in a herringbone pattern, which takes some thinking, but is actually pretty easy to lay when done at a right angle to the wall. The slate floors are heated too, so they should be pretty comfortable year round.

The slate works really well with the white subway and mosaic from a design perspective. The overall look of the space is classic and timeless and fits in well with the 1900 home. I’m also hoping that the large-format slate tiles lend a garden-y feel to the space. And did I mention that not one of these tiles is more than $3.50/sf? Phew!

Although we’ve tiled plenty of shower surrounds with subway tile in the past, this was our first time capping the top with chair rail. The tile profile is reminiscent of the picture rail that runs throughout much of the main floor of this house near the same elevation, which is a detail I’ve been dreaming about recreating with tile since first seeing these chair rail tiles at Home Depot. I love that it gives the shower surround a more traditional feel.

Next up we need to grout these tiles, but we’re still debating on the color. We picked up both grey (Delorean Gray from HD) and an epoxy white. I posed the question on Instagram and got lots of great feedback, which pretty much scared me away from ever using white grout in a shower. But white would look so pretty on the subway tiles. I know, not as practical as gray, but it would be beautiful. Oh well. As of yesterday, I was thinking we’d use Delorean Gray on all the tiles, including the slate, but we’ll see what we decide in the end.

It feels like we have a whole lot left to do for this bathroom, but I’m optimistic we’ll have this bathroom done for the ORC reveal, especially since one extra week was added to the timeline (due to the natural disasters and crazy weather that has affected so many of the design bloggers)! Still to do: grout the tiles, fabricate the marble vanity top, finish plumbing, vanity lighting, vanity mirrors, build the closet, decorate, and I’m sure I’m missing something else, but that’s enough to get my heart rate up so we’ll stop there 😉

Check out all the other featured designers taking part here and the other guests here.

It sounds like both of us spent many many hours staring at walls from a few inches away this week! Your work is paying off because that shower is dreaaaaaamy!
I haven’t tried them, but there are newfangled grouts that claim not to stain. Could one of those products get you the white grout look without the icky consequences?

The shower looks fantastic, and I LOVE those slate floors! My vote for the grout would be the Delorean Gray, but that could be because I just used it yesterday on our entryway and it’s making me a little biased. It could also be because it’s such a versatile gray, too! I can’t wait to see that vanity with a marble top *swoon*

About

Hi there! I’m Cathy, an old house lover, designer, and renovator. My husband, Garrett, and I fix up old houses in Washington state and live a quiet, country life with our two young sons and baby girl. We’re currently turning our 105-year-old Farmhouse into our forever home. Watch for our pilot, MASTERPLAN, to air on HGTV soon!